A new Chicago-focused study links red light cameras to a coinciding rise in rear-end collisions, casting doubts on claims that the mounted cameras improve safety at intersections.
The study’s findings, published by the Chicago Tribune Friday, found that while traffic cameras appeared to reduce injuries by 15% for collisions at right angles, where one car crashes head-on into the side of another car, those improvements were overshadowed by a 22% increase in injuries from rear-end accidents. Taken together, the study shows a statistically insignificant increase of injuries by 5%.
See The Militarization of US Police Forces Over The Years
Three policemen taking away a civil rights protester during race riots in Newark, N.J., 1967.Evans/Getty ImagesPolice officers at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August, 1968.
Maury Englander—FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesPolice arrest a protestor during an Earth Day demonstration at Boston's Logan Airport, August, 1970.
Spencer Grant—Getty Images A police officer with a tear gas gun during an anti-Ku Klux Klan protest in Washington D.C., November, 1982. Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty ImagesPolice chase a demonstrator involved in a protest over the death of a black teen-ager killed by a white assailant in Brooklyn, N.Y., 1989.Gerald Herbert—New York Daily News Archive/Getty ImagesHouston police officers arrest a pro-immigration demonstrator in Houston for protesting in the wrong place, August, 1992.Walt Freck—AFP/Getty ImagesWashington D.C. police officers gather outside the World Bank as protesters mass, April, 2000.Luke Frazze—AFP/Getty ImagesPolice in riot gear and armed with pepper spray at an anti-war protest in Chicago, March, 2003.
Scott Olson—Getty ImagesA Washington, D.C., police officer pepper sprays demonstrators after a barricade along Pennsylvania Avenue was pulled down during the inaugural parade, January 20, 2005.Emile Wamsteker—Bloomberg NewsA police officer stands guard during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh, September, 2009.
Jason Andrew—Getty ImagesA man backs away as police close in on him during unrest in Ferguson, Mo. following Michael Brown's death, Aug. 11, 2014.Whitney Curtis—The New York TimesPolice fire tear gas after protesters threw bottles in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 18, 2014.David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch/Polaris
The results come amid Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s push to mount cameras on traffic lights city wide. The programs have attracted a growing backlash from critics who question its safety benefits and worry the program will lead to a swelling of ticket payments.
